Nov. 3, 1936. P. G.

PEIK 2,059,487
MUFFLER

Filed Oct. 31, 1932

22:34
32

sts, 764-w, Woelf (loore,

... --- 8tow
 Patented Nov. 3, 1936 2,059,487

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,059,487
MUFFER
Paul G. Pelk, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Halsey
W. Taylor Company, Warren, Ohio, a corpora
tion of Ohio
Application October 31, 1932, Serial No. 640,558
Claim. (C. 181-41)
This invention relates to mufflers for silencing gas stream. Their efficiency is limited due to the
the exhaust noises of engines, particularly of in multiplicity of sound waves in the exhaust stream .
ternal combustion engines. of an internal combustion engine and the varia
The general object of the invention is to pro tion of the sound waves due to acceleration and
vide a combined acoustic and resonator muffler, deceleration of the engine. Their length, which
of exceptionally low production, cost having a is governed by the wave length of the low fre
degree of compactness heretofore unattained in quencies in an exhaust gas stream, is considerable
mufflers of comparable efficiency. and therefore the manufacturing costs of reaSon
Another object of the invention is to provide ably efficient resonator mufflers are high and their
10 a durable efficient combined acoustic and reso use is limited to automobiles with relatively iarge O
nator muffler of low construction cost which emi frame structures.
bodies a Series of resonator chambers of Substan The objects and advantages of the invention
tial length when compared with the length of the will become more apparent from the following
muffler. description, when taken in conjunction with the
15 Still another object of the invention is to pro accompanying drawing, wherein: 15
vide a combined acoustic and resonator muffler Figure i is a longitudinal sectional view of an
Of the type referred to above with a series of res exhaust muffler according to thie invention, the
Onator chambers tuned within narrow ranges section being taken on line - of Figure 2;
With respect to each other to broaden the range Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken
20 of frequencies in which the muffler Will silence on line 2-2 of Figure 1, 20
low sound frequencies. - Figures 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views
Fundamentally all sound deadening is due to taken on lines 3-3 and 4-4 respectively of Fig
resonance action. The highest efficiency of ure 1;
Sound deadening-that is, elimination of any Figures 5 through 8 show a slightly modified
25 SOund Wave in One cycle-is attained only by pro form of the muffler provided with Separating fins 25
viding a separate chamber tuned exactly to the to increase the number of resonator chambers
length of that Waye. This method is not feasible employed, thus, Figure 5 is a longitudinal Sec
in a muffler, due to the multiplicity of sound tional view through the modified muffler taken
waves in the exhaust stream, and the constant on line 5-5 of Figure 6;
30 variation of their frequency due to the accelera Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on 30
tion and de-celeration of the engine. While each line 6-6 of Figure 5;
individual air space in sound absorbing material Figures 7 and 8 are transverse sectional views
employed in mufflers of the so-called acoustic taken on lines 1-7 and 8-8 respectively of
type, is far too small to have an efficient sound Figure 5.
35 deadening action in one cycle, acoustic mufflers Referring more particularly to the structure 35
are nevertheless very efficient in deadening high disclosed in Figures 1 through 4 of the drawing,
frequencies of sound due to the multiplicity of tie muffler comprises a series of telescoped cylin
air Spaces and the high rate of oscillation of the ders 2, 3 and 4 arranged in spaced relationship
high frequencies. Thus, the so-called acoustic with respect to each other. The outer cylinder 2
40 mufflers are extremely efficient in eliminating the and the adjoining cylinder 3 are connected at 40
high frequencies, but (for reasons which are ex opposite ends in any suitable manner, as by Weld
plained later) are So inefficient in their action on ing to the front and rear end walls 5 and 6 re
the low frequencies that such mufflers must be spectively, thus forming resonator chamber 7 of
made in a considerable length to obtain the neces ring shaped cross-section between these two cyl
45 Sary elimination of the low Sound frequencies, so inders. End wall 5 is formed with an inlet exten 45
long in fact that it is common practice, to make sion 8 having an outlet opening 9, and end wall
then in two units so that they can be mounted 6 is centrally perforated to form an opening 0.
between the re-inforcing members of the modern The third cylinder 4 is somewhat shorter and at
automobile chassis. its rear end welded to rear end wall 6. The front
50 The following brief reference to acoustic muf end of cylinder 4 is welded to an inner wall 2 50
fiers and resonator mufflers will Serve to show which in turn is secured to the inner wall of cylin
how the above objects are attained and to bring der 3. Front end wall 5 is spaced a slight dis
out the main features of the invention. tance from inner wall 2 due to the difference in
Resonator mufflers in turn are extremely eff length between cylinders 3 and 4, thus forming
55 cient in deadening low frequencies in an exhaust a chamber f4 at the front end of the muffler. 55
 2 2,059,487
Cylinder 4 encloses a round sleeve or pipe is in
axial alignment with the respective inlet and out
let openings 9 and 0, and extending from inlet
opening 3 in inner wall 2 of shell 4 to and
through opening O in rear end wall 8, thus form
ing a ring shaped chamber f within cylinder 4.
Pipe 5, which is made of perforated sheet metal,
communicates through its perforations with the
interior of cylinder 4 surrounding said pipe. The
O ring shaped chamber in cylinder 4 is packed
with any sound absorbing fire proof material 8
such as expanded micaceous material, slag wool,
steel wool etc. and communicates with the space
inside of pipe 5, as previously described, which
5 space constitutes an unobstructed main passage
for the exhaust gas.
The silencing eficiency of the structure just
described is nore effective on the high Sound fre
quencies than on the lower ones, the latter being
20 more readily muffled or silenced by resonating
action. Good muffling on both high and low fre
quencies has heretofore only been obtained by
employing relatively long mufflers, which as
25
pointed out above cannot be used on reinforced chambers 24 and 25 are arranged similarly to
short frame structures of automobiles. In order
to obtain a resonator effect in combination with
the acoustic action of the muffler so far described
without greatly increasing the length of the muf
fler, the space between shells 2, 3 and 4 is utilized
30 as a resonator chamber 9. Chamber 9 which
may be tuned to silence the loudest period of the
low sound frequencies of the exhaust gas stream,
is approximately twice the length of the outer cyl
inder 2 and consequently is about double the
35 length of the muffler as a whole, one half of the
length of chamber 9 constituting the outer ring
shaped space between cylinders 2 and 3, and the
other half constituting the inner ring-shaped
space between cylinders 3 and 4 which in effect
serves as a second resonator chamber.
A series of openings or slots 20 in the wall of
cylinder 3 close to one end thereof provide direct
communication between the two halves of chann
ber 9, and a series of openings 2 in the wall of
said cylinder close to the opposite end thereof
provide direct communication between chamber
4 and one end only of resonator chamber 9.
Therefore as the chambers are connected in series
the same will be caused to function as a compound
50 resonator.
For internal combustion engines having an un
usually complex combination of distinct loud pe
riods of low frequencies the number of resonator
chambers of the muffler is preferably increased.
Such a structure is disclosed in Figures 5 to 8 of
the drawing, wherein I show a muffler closely re
sembling the structure shown in Figures 1-4,
with the exception that the space between shells
2 and 3 and shells 3 and 4 is subdivided by fins
22 and 28 respectively, whereby two elongated
reversed or U-shaped resonator chambers 24 and O
25 of substantial length are formed, which there
fore function as a simple resonator. The length
of chambers 24 and 25 may be individually adapt
ed to silence the loudest periods of the two lowest
Sound frequencies of the exhaust gas stream by 5
arranging the communicating openings or slots
20', 20' in cylinders 3 and 4 more or less apart
from the end of said cylinders, but slots 20" should
be so positioned that the chambers 24 and 25 will
be substantially longer than the length of the 20
outer cylinder 2 and consequently longer than
the length of the muffler as a whole. The corn
municating passages 2 between the halves of
openings 2 in the muffler previously described. 25
It will be understood that mufflers according
to the invention can readily be built with any
number of simple resonator chambers of the re
quired tuning either by providing further sub
divisions by means of additional fins, or by in 30
creasing the number of shells or cylinders, and
that these mufflers possess very high mufting
efficiency despite the fact that the length of the
muffler is comparatively short.
Having thus described my invention, what I 35
claim is:
A muffler for silencing the exhaust noise of in
ternal combustion engines, comprising an unob
structed main passage having a plurality of per
forations therein, an expansion chamber having
Sound absorbing material packed therein and en
circling said passage and communicating there
with through said perforations, and two substan
tially U-shaped resonator chambers, each being
of substantially greater length than said muffler
and each being in communication with the main
passage, said resonator chambers being spaced
from the main passage by different radial dis
tances.
PAUL G. PEK.